The rise left motorists paying 78 cents a gallon more for regular gasoline than they did a year ago, the federal Energy Information Administration said in its weekly survey of service stations. The Energy Department's forecasting arm previously said it thought consumers would pay an average $2.71 a gallon at the pump this summer, 34 cents more than last year.

The bankers are betting that this is going to get worse:

Forecasts for an active Atlantic hurricane season have CIBC World Markets (CIBC World Markets is the wholesale banking arm of CIBC, the major Canadian bank) predicting gasoline prices could soar this summer to $1.30 a litre, or $3.50 US per U.S. gallon.

In The Land Down Under, they don't get hit by hurricanes (at least not very often). But if they did, think of what they would be paying considering this relatively normal price:

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